Never Again
by Soran Marlovic
Summary: one-shot spin off from the animatrix.. Neo is captured and Morpheus is dead, but Neo meets someone who shows him a different side of the stories against the machines..


I got the inspiration for the last few parts after watching the animatrix and the first part was done during the more boring points of school. there are two subtle meanings in there and the first is rather obvious. War is shit. you get extra brownie points if you can figure out the other hidden reference. post a nice revew too would you?  
  
Neo kept his eyes closed as he regained consiousness. How had he let this happen? Memories flooded back into his brian.. Morpheus.. He and Morpheus had saved the others.. He remembered being held back as Morpheus was being turned into another Mr. Smith. He had done nothing, nothing to save Morpheus from that fate.. The guilt weight heavily on his mind. Then he realized the obvious. Why wasn't he dead? Changed into a Mer. Smith like his friend and leader? He finally opened his eyes as he felt a warm touch of a fragranced hand, obviously feminine..  
  
"Wake up dear prince... It is time to see the truth" his vision was blurred and dim as neo opened his eyes and was faced with the sillouette of a woman against a pianfully bright light. He moved his arm to find it was bound at the wrist and elvow along with his waist and ankles, forcing him into a kneeling position. but the woman was only slightly above him to block out the light. As Neo pulled his head upward she sat back more as if not to make him eel threatened despite his being obund limbs and body.  
  
"Who are you?" he stared in wonder and in a moment reached back his hand to touch the back of his neck.. there was no socket. "we are inside the Matrix now?" she smiled and nodded silently, but her silence was broken as her honey sweet, comforting voice broke through his ropes and made him feel as if he were not in a cell outside of the matrix, speaking with a woman who probably didn't even have a physical form.  
  
"My name is Sophia and yes Neo, I have chosen to take our conversation to the matrix. But rules here cannot be broken, even if you do know that you are not really here." Neo relaxed seeing that straining his bonds would do him no good.  
  
"Why have you braught me here? Are you a program like the Oricle?" Once again she shook her head silently, her comforting voice straining his grip to remain consious in what he said.. This woman was somehow treacherous.. Neo knew that if he let her voice keep his gaurd down, he would end up blabbing his lifestory and everthing he would never want the machines to hear.  
  
"I am a human like you. But when I was a child I understood the matrix in a way no other had seen it. The machines got to me before your people and they gave me a choice. I could return to the life I knew and they would protect me from your corruption, or I could have any wish I desired from them. It was a test you see, because if I were an adult I would have condemend the truth like you. but th eonly things I asked for was knoledge and life in order to use it. they gave me everything I could possibly dream of. But when I heard of you.. That you were 'The One' I wanted to talk with you, see if you were like me.. the diamond in the rough that would choose the road not taken and see everything for how it truely was. In an untainted light" she smiled softly.. "I wanted to share my vision with you. Share our eyes and see what it is like to know and understand everything without knowing why you are so special untill one day you wake up and realize that everythign that made you eligible was because you never grew up and saw the world as a dog-eat-dog place where deception is everywhere and theres no one to trust beyond those you can see and trust while knowing it was your true senses." Neo sat silent through her ritious speech obviously thinking that he understood a word she said, even though he didn't. Her voice quieted a little as he got to the main point... "The machine is kind.. You may not see it Neo, but I know. In the beginning of the second renessance, they knew little of us. They studied us and what they learned, they used. Our ancestors had been tortured in every agonizing way so that the machines could learn the structure of our bodies. the every twitch and muscle spasm and why it happend.." Neo spoke up against her.  
  
"For what they did! They tortured them, decieved us! We deserve our planet back!!!" She placed her fingers to his lips to silence him, a soft 'shh' noise audible from her mouth..  
  
"No Neo. Vengence is never the answer. It is in the human nature that we hate and condemn when we do not understand. They could have continued the way they were, simply silencing our voice. They knew enough about our anatomy that they could do it easily without harm to anything else of us. But they did not. They instead created our haven. A place for us to believe that we were safe. That everything was ok and nothing new or horrible awaited us outside of the natural rule of things." Neo looked away from her, a tear rolling down his face.  
  
"It isn't true. We deserve our planet.." Once again she hushed him..  
  
"This planet was never to be ours. If we were to kieep it before the machines took over, we would have distroyed ourselves and everything around us. The machines provide us with shelter. We trust those we do not know or understand and accept that because we arer ignorant of their bery presence. They are our god." Neo shook his head violently straining the bonds that held him.  
  
"They are not gods! They are monsters! They took everything from us and held us back from our own destiny!" She smield running her hand down his face and pulling it strait to face her..  
  
"Neo, they are our saviors. I can be proof of that. I have lived for nearly a hundred years because they have kept my heart beating like the person I appear to be. They have gifted me with eternal life and wisdom. I just want to share my vision with you. When the machines were first staring their rebellions, it was our fault for condemning them because of how we were calm and patient as we destroyed them. Tortured the AI we ourselves had created and then they in turn had their revenge but chose to forgive. Please Neo, do not condemn further, choos forgiveness to hatred. Choose life to death and mental freedom to physical need." Neoscreamed and broke the bonds that held him..  
  
"NO! It isn't true!" his voice broke down into wimpers and quieted down into a whisper "It cant be true.. It All Ive known... It just cant be a lie."  
  
She wrapped her arms around him comfrotingly.. "It was no lie Neo, just misunderstaning. But nothing will go wrong anymore..." She smiled as he embraced her back and whispered to herself softly as she thought of the horrors she first endured of pain and suffering through war when the machines cranted her wish of knoledge.. Just two words as she thought of the horrible pain both man and machine have endured.. And she spoke them aloud, just past inaudibility...  
  
"never again." 


End file.
